The Stopping Place: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain

 The Stopping Place: A Journey Through Gypsy Britain by Damian Le Bas
2018
Weight: 1.02 lbs
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

I bought this book on my last trip to England, along with too many others.  I am just trying to collect all the information I can about all the things I do not know and, of course, read anything that brings me closer to Harriet.  Not that her upbringing has much to do with Gypsy Britain.  It has very little, though people identifying themselves as Romani did stay on her grandparent's land periodically, there were horse sales, and sometimes caravans of people passing through in the North.

I have occasionally heard about gypsies.  In Russia, in England, in Ireland, in Victor Hugo.  It is not uncommon to hear a sneer along with the word.  When pressed, people will tell me about theft and people who leave trash in their wake, but these same people seem to know very little about where the people they label "gypsies" come from, what motivates them, what they find important, how they identify.  Now, clearly not all gypsies are the same or come from the same bloodlines or even countries, so why all the generalizations.  Like all other groups of people, there is so much more than the stereotypes  you were raised with.  Look around you, take a peek into history.  All I know for sure is that, if anyone claims to be able to sum up a group of people in a few sentences, you should not trust them.

I have so many questions.  This book is just a scratch on the surface, but it is a start. More to come!  I will leave this book in a lending library because you never know who might pick it up without a care or a thought and then learn something new.

Belle Prater's Boy

Belle Prater's Boy by Ruth White
1998
Weight: 11.2 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

SPOILER ALERT

This was a surprisingly good young adult novel that was centered on two kids turning into teenagers, Gypsy and Woodrow.  They are both reeling with the loss of a parent.  Gypsy lost her father to suicide and Woodrow's mom disappeared.   Both characters are so earnest and so lovable.  You just want to make everything right for them.  They have such loving personalities despite their struggles and when Woodrow weaves an elaborate tale of magic and two worlds throughout the book you find yourself desperately believing that his mom will come back for him and that she is just stuck somewhere.  It is not until the very end of the book that you too have to feel a disappointment similar to Woodrow's when he admits that his mom left him behind and that she is not coming back.  I wanted to be enraged, but then Gypsy reminds you that, "Aunt Belle had left Woodrow on purpose just like my daddy left me.  Not because they didn't love us.  They did.  But their pain was bigger than their love" (195).